


Talk About Love

by streetlightsky



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/streetlightsky/pseuds/streetlightsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>i thought i'd seen it all tonight / but then you put your lips on mine</i>
</p>
<p>Collection of 50 drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While I'm working on some longer pieces/ones that I can't dedicate time and effort to right now, I'm doing drabbles in compensation. I nabbed a random table off the internet and while there will be fifty in total, there are five choice prompts so I'm taking suggestions! Feel free to comment and request as many as you want, but I'll only be choosing five.
> 
> Characters and general universe don't belong to me. Errors, grammatical or factual, intended or not, do belong to me. General rating applied since I haven't written all the drabbles, but I don't really expect it to change.

**_Rest_ **

He finds her asleep in some of the weirdest places. On the couch, on the floor of the lab, on the bottom steps of the staircase with her head against the rail, and one time, on the kitchen floor leaning against the refrigerator.

Grant may have done all the dirty work on the missions, but Jemma is just as exhausted as he is from the preparation and anxiety. This is all new to her, really.

Thus, he habitually finds himself scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to bed. Her bed, of course.

They’re not quite there yet.

 

 

 ** _Haze_**  

When Grant wakes up, his mind swims in a blurred cloud. His senses come back slowly – bright beam above him, metal table under his body, the smell of… bleach? He tries to sit up, but only groans and drops his head back down.

“Ward?” he registers a voice saying his name.

“Jemma?” he calls blindly. “What happened?”

“Ward, you’re… I’m not…”

“Just tell me,” Grant says as he tries to look at her through the glaring light.

“Ward, don’t you–”

“Even if I died and came back to life, Jemma, it’s not–”

“Ward,” Skye states. “I’m not Jemma.”

 

 

**_Blaze_ **

Grant takes one last look around – in case he missed a corner or she randomly shows up at a doorway – before joining the rest of the team already outside waiting.

“Anything?” Coulson asks him. Grant shakes his head, again.

“Light it up. We’ve got another place to check out,” Coulson commands before walking away. Grant does as told – lighting matches and throwing them through a broken window. He turns to trail the continually paling Fitz and painfully quiet Skye back to their remaining van.

This is the fifth place they’ve looked and set on fire. Still no sign of Jemma.

 

 

 **_Ashes_ ** ****

Jemma makes him promise that if and when she dies, her body is to be cremated rather than locked and buried in a coffin. When he asks why, she blushes and tells him a marathon of the first seasons of “Supernatural” convinced her. And, well, in light of recent events, clearly her reasoning is justified.

When Grant promises to do so, he doesn’t think. Because if he knew there were ways to bring her back from the dead in that way, in _any_ way, he would do so in a heartbeat.

Plus, he just can’t think that far right now.

 

 

**_Jagged_ **

Jemma knows what it feels like to be lonely, to be the only person in the world that doesn’t belong anywhere or share similar experiences with anyone else. She knows what it feels like to want, to never find, to pretend.

Jemma knows when you need someone and when you just need yourself.

She watches as Grant stands on the jagged rocks on the side of the beach and stares out at the ocean. There is no one that can help him come to terms with what he has been through.

But Jemma will always be there waiting for him.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Guess_**  

“Come on. There has to be someone you’ve had feelings for,” Skye says. “And I mean romantic feelings. Not angry, want-to-break-all-your-fingers feelings.” 

“Your point?” Grant asks.

“Everyone has a type. Even you,” Skye continues. “Average height, brown eyes, long dark hair–”

“If you’re describing yourself, I’m going to leave now.”

“Fine, fine. But I know–”

“Hi, guys,” Jemma says as she walks by the common area. Grant nods in acknowledgement and his eyes follow her go.

“Simmons?! That’s your type?!” Skye exclaims once the scientist leaves. Grant rolls his eyes, but knows he’s been made. “Who would’ve guessed…”

 

 

**_Excite_ **

“This is quite exciting!” Jemma exclaims as she carefully treks through the woods with Grant following and his eyes fully alert. Unlike her, he is less thrilled about this arrangement, but the job had to be done.

At the snap of a twig, Grant immediately braces Jemma back and has his gun pointed, ready to shoot if necessary.

“Calm down, James Bond. That was me,” Jemma says as she rolled her eyes. 

“You need to be careful,” Grant tells her and lowers his gun. “You don’t know–”

“–What’s out there?” Jemma finishes. “I know! That’s the best part!”

 

 

**_Effort_ **

Jemma works very hard to keep her distance. She knows her incessant yet accidental rambling would set him off and she would rather not be on the receiving end of his anger. That’s why it’s incredibly wrong that she finds it somewhat attractive.

_Very. Wrong._

But it isn’t her fault that he keeps hooking punching bags right in front of the lab and hitting so hard for so long that he has to take his sweat-soaked shirt off. How is she supposed to avoid that when she’s already in her last hiding spot?

Jemma sometimes wonders why she even tries.

 

 

**_Animal_ **

Jemma has spent so little time making actual friends that she doesn’t quite understand why she and Skye have to talk about rather intimate topics. Nonetheless, she enjoys Skye’s company and if that entails listening to her talk about her sex life, well, she can just nod along.

“I bet Ward’s an animal in bed,” Skye suddenly says. Jemma almost spits her tea back into the cup.

“Excuse me?!” she exclaims.

“Come on. I know you’ve thought about it. It’s _Ward_ , after all. So rough and serious about everything.”

Jemma blames the hot tea for the heat on her cheeks.

 

 

**_Unfold_ **

Despite what he originally thought, she’s rather easy to read. She’s not May who has secrets and then some. She’s not Skye who searches too hard for something that will never be there. She’s not Fitz because, well, he still can’t quite understand him. And she’s certainly not Coulson – no explanation needed.

She comes as a biochemist, a researcher, a calculated and meticulous girl that needs scientific proof for everything. But she unravels, right in front of him, and can become someone else.

Sometimes, when her head lies in his lap and he smooths her hair, she’s just his girl.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still have five empty choice prompts, friends. Request if you have ideas or else I'll end up filling them randomly...

**_Measure_ **

She puts so much pressure on herself – to meet the requirements people demand from her, the standards others have set, the expectations she has.

How does she compare to her predecessors? How does she match up to her opponents? Does she measure up to who they think she is, who they want her to be? 

Jemma doesn’t know. She doesn’t want to know so she never asks. Yet she works fervently to prove that exact unknown.

But she finds out one day lying in Grant’s bed – still unsure of whether she’s good enough to be there.

“You’re perfect,” he says.

 

 

**_Wrap_ **

She’s shivering and she can’t seem to stop. Her teeth clack, shoulders shake, fingers tremble, and she just can’t seem to stop.

They got her out fifteen minutes ago and she’s still shivering. After they pulled her out, after he took off his jacket and put it on her, after he wrapped her in all the blankets he could find, she still won’t stop.

He has to make it stop.

So he grabs her and brings her in. He envelops her body into his and rubs his hands up and down her back.

He holds her. And she eventually stops.

 

 

**_Solve_ **

Her eyes dart between him and the timer. _Fifteen. Fourteen…_

“Ward,” she calls.

“I’m working on it,” he states as he tries to decipher the ridiculous code in front of them. _Who came up with this?!_

_Nine. Eight…_

“Ward,” she repeats.

_Five. Four…_

“Grant!” His fingers fly across the monitor and then slam over the red button. The lights flicker on with two milliseconds left.

Now they’re tied with Skye and Fitz.

“You could’ve helped, you know,” he remarks. But both know this was his task. Besides, he never would’ve made it through that extreme version of Operation without her.

 

 

**_Elusive_ **

They’ve been undercover for two weeks and Jemma misses the Bus. She misses her lab, her bunk. She misses their little kitchen and late night Scrabble sessions. At this point, she could probably make an argument for how much she misses turbulence and emergency landings.

But she’s been undercover with Grant for two weeks and Jemma rather enjoys the whole secret agent idea. She enjoys taking on an alias and the odd thrill of pretending to be someone else. She enjoys the privacy too because, well, no one has to know what she and Grant do during their down time.

 

 

**_Compliment_ **

She doesn’t flatter him. Doesn’t brag about his abilities. Doesn’t glue herself to his side or get upset when some clueless girl touches his thigh while he’s actually on a mission.

At the beginning of the day, he’ll always be the one she kisses good morning.

He doesn’t give compliments. Doesn’t publically praise her research. Doesn’t shower her with gifts or go out of his way to make displays of affection even when some lowly agent at the Hub actually tries to hit on her.

At the end of the day, she’ll always be the one he comes home to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a very happy set...

**_Seasons_ **

She wants it to stop raining in the spring. She’s from England, after all; she’s had enough of that.

She’s not a fan of the heat in the summer either. So it’s a good thing her lab is always set at a fixed temperature.

In the fall, she hopes the leaves won’t change into a beautiful color and then die on her. She’s always disappointed.

And during winter, she greedily wishes for snow without frost, but it never happens.

Some things never change, despite their intentions. So when Grant leaves her again, Jemma childishly still hopes he’ll prove her wrong.

 

 

**_Dispose_ **

She relives that moment – that second she realizes what she’s worth.

How quickly he moved on. How effortlessly he went back to work. How emotionless he felt when he told her the truth. How cold he had suddenly become again.

She is never going to be the person she thought she could be. Not to him, at least. And she knows, she _knows_ , it’s more him than her. But that doesn’t stop her from feeling the way she does – useless, guilty, _not enough_.

Because, in the end, if Jemma was that person, Grant wouldn’t have disposed of her so easily.

 

 

 ** _Strings_**  

This is why he doesn’t do this. This is why he doesn’t get emotionally invested. This is why he doesn’t gamble with his heart because it’s still not fixed after it was repeatedly broken.

He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand why things are so complicated, why people can’t be who they appear to be, why there always needs to be more than there already is. When is enough enough? When is anyone ever truly satisfied? 

When will they stop tugging and playing with his heartstrings?

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” he tells Jemma.

“No, it doesn’t.”

 

 

**_Fit_ **

Jemma will never be fit for this lifestyle. They could dangle a lab in her face all they wanted, but she will never belong. She will never understand that the risks in this world go beyond her science.

Grant knows this. He watches her scream and gasp in terror, scramble for any kind of safety, pretend to be okay when he knows she’s not. Without field training, she always leaves herself vulnerable, something he can’t stand.

He can’t stand constantly looking over his shoulder, the inevitable worry. She’s not fit to live like this. Doesn’t deserve to.

So he leaves.

 

 

**_Need_ **

“I don’t need you!” Grant shouts at her.

He’s lying. He needs her. He needs her more than he will ever admit. He needs her like he needs air and water and energy and sunlight. He needs her to survive. But more importantly, he needs her to live.

“I don’t need you either! Nobody does!” Jemma retorts back at him.

She’s lying. She needs him. She needs him more than she will ever understand. She needs him like she needs balance and stability and answers and people. She needs him to persist. But more importantly, she needs him to thrive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update. The hiatus took my muse, but hopefully it's back.

**_Glass_ **

“I’m no good for you.”

Grant will never admit it. He doesn’t have to. Jemma can see it clearly now.

His heart has been poorly mended – patched together with ordinary tape and careless effort as the pieces don’t quite fit right and evenly. The cracks are visible to those who want to see. It’s functional, but in need of desperate repair far beyond the half-hearted physical stitches.

Jemma will not pick up the shattered pieces just for him to endure another round of getting there. She will be the one to finally make him whole again.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

 

 

**_Classic_ **

“Buy her flowers,” Skye suggests.

“No.” 

“Why not?” Grant only stares.

He doesn’t know how to go about this. Even with his lack of expertise, his gut tells him Skye’s ideas will not work on one certain biochemist. Subjecting her to trite and trivial means of attention and affection just aren’t enough.

“What about dinner and a movie? That’s classic,” Skye recommends.

“With you and Fitz watching us the whole time? No.”

“Then the next time you spend any time with her is if she falls through space again. So, good luck with that.”

He hates when Skye is right.

 

 

 ** _Empire_**  

Realistically, they never would’ve met, even while working for the same constantly expanding company. His profession keeps him traveling continents by the week while her lab is nothing more than a unique desk job. It would take fate to match one field agent always looking for the next mission with a biochemist holed up in her cocoon of experiments.

The empire continually builds on itself. There are thousands of people under this agency – one that is quickly gaining global influence and power. Grant Ward and Jemma Simmons are only two people.

Two people that always manage to find each other.

 

 

**_Soon_ **

It’s times like these Grant is grateful for her tiny stature. Jemma squeezes herself against his chest where he holds her close. At every brush of noise, he pushes her head down into him and waits for any further movement.

“Grant,” she whines in a whisper, but he can hear the fear in her voice. He thinks she’s crying, but the layers of clothing, Kevlar, and his need for her to stay quiet and out of harm’s way keeps him from checking to be sure.

“It’ll be over soon. I promise,” he says, kissing her head right before the blast.

 

 

 ** _Afterlife_**  

They know it isn’t right. Some things just don’t add up. Why Jemma keeps talking to Fitz even though he’s not there. Why Grant keeps guns in the house, but not any bullets. Why she continuously has the same scientific breakthrough. Why he gets hurt in a battle, but never has a blemish on his body.

They’re not kidding themselves though. They just live without the questions – a rather refreshing routine after their last bout.

It’s comfortable and peaceful, after all, when they can’t lose. When they can keep their promise to love the other till the end of time.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Threat_ **

“I’m going,” Grant states firmly.

“I make the decisions around here and you’re not going anywhere,” Agent Hand replies.

“Look! I don’t care who you got on the ground! I told you it was going to be a mistake, but you didn’t listen. So, with all due respect, if you’re not going to do anything to save her, I am!”

“Agent Ward, you step a foot outside those doors and you’ll be expecting a hearing,” Agent Hand warns. Grant pauses for a moment.

“You do that then,” he says and walks out. He is going to get his Jemma back.

 

 

**_Jealous_ **

Grant gets this way sometimes, Jemma observes. Straight back, stiff neck, stern expression, like he’s working for the Secret Service or the Buckingham Palace guards.

Grant gets this way around strange and unprofessional men, Jemma notices. Crossed arms, steady stance, unblinking eyes, as if he needs to be prepared for an imminent attack on their lives.

If Jemma asks, he wouldn’t give her a straight answer, if one at all. But it’s obvious, really.

“He’s so jealous,” Skye says coming from behind. Jemma’s eyes glance over at Grant and smiles as she shifts back. Grant’s frown, if possible, gets deeper.

 

 

**_Work_ **

It takes work to graduate from the Academy. Those who cannot withstand the demands and training regimes will not last in the long run.

It takes work to move up the ranks. The number of agents promoted to Level 4 and virtually stay there for the rest of their career is a staggering statistic.

It takes equal work to earn someone’s trust, be that Coulson, Hill, or even Simmons.

Grant knows that look after Jemma falls. He wants her to know that he understands and that he’ll work to get there with her.

This isn’t the first time he’s waited.

 

 

**_Listen_ **

She needs to be careful when she moves. Delicate, unassuming. He’s a light sleeper and the last thing Jemma wants is to get caught. 

Gently, she lays her head atop his bare chest. His body heat is unbearably inviting. But that’s not what she’s here for.

She traces caresses to keep him calm. Even in his sleep, he seems to be tense. Jemma wants to know what he dreams about, wants to be in his dreams with him.

And she listens to Grant’s heartbeat – the most soothing rhythm she has ever encountered. It keeps him alive, as well as her.

 

 

**_Choice_ **

Jemma looks down the whole time. Grant is efficient but gives everyone his whole attention when facing them.

These are his last words before he leaves, before he’s gone and disappears off the face of the planet for who knows how long.

“You know I don’t have a choice,” he tells her when they’re alone. She doesn’t say anything, only leans her head into his shoulder as he circles his arms around her and strokes her hair. “You’ll be busy. You won’t even notice I’m gone. It’ll be fine.”

He’s wrong. She knows it.

And he does have a choice.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This set was all over the place. Oops. And if you can't tell by now, I don't like dialogue in these.

**_Marry_**  

Jemma has long stopped looking at men and thinking any could be husband material. Maybe it’s because she’s too afraid to look that far down the road – not ill-conceived considering her line of work. Or perhaps it’s because the prime example of marriage in her life broke so harshly that Jemma would never want to put herself or anyone else through that kind of pain.

She reminds herself of these things when with Grant.

And yet, when the words slip right out of her mouth, she knows she means them and would never take them back: “Will you marry me?”

 

 

**_Innocence_ **

Grant sometimes wishes Jemma didn’t work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe they’d meet at a coffee shop in London or a corporate building in New York. Either way, the Jemma there is lively and sweet, not unlike how she usually is, but the glimmer in her eye is different.

It’s lighter, like there are no dark clouds and she would never have to sacrifice herself by jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. Like there are no aliens in the world or evils that obstruct their connection to each other.

Grant wonders just how much brighter her smile would be then.

 

 

 ** _Strange_**  

From that moment, everything is an out-of-body experience. Jemma sees others, sees their lips move, hears their voices, but nothing is in sync. Motions are blurry and in constant slow motion. She speaks, but no words come out, not any she can grasp. She can practically see herself, like she’s a ghost watching the scene.

Life goes much faster and Jemma can’t seem to remember why. How she got a change of clothes, how her wounds healed, how she got from one place to another. Nothing makes sense to her.

From the moment they announced Grant dead, everything is strange.

 

 

 ** _Swift_**  

They run.

Jemma is not fast, but deft. She’s up and down and left and right. She ducks and dodges and doesn’t stop even when a bullet whizzes by her shoulder.

Grant is fast, but slows. He lets Jemma go first while he covers her to fire back. He climbs the stumps and rocks and hills all while gunning down their assailants. He never lets Jemma out of his sight.

It takes a second before Jemma realizes the gunfire has stopped. The moment she turns to look behind her, Grant comes from behind, grabs her hand, and they charge on.

 

 

**_Quake_ **

Jemma is alone during the quake. No Fitz, no Coulson, no no one. The building has been mostly closed off to allow them to work, so after Fitz went across town to report his news, Jemma is by herself.

She hides and quivers in fear at the sound of destruction and when she does open her eyes, she’s surprised a fire hasn’t already started with the number of spills and chemicals lying around. That’s why she can’t move; there’s nowhere to go.

Only when the door busts open and Grant picks her up in his arms does she finally cry.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Verbal_ **

Some things Jemma lets him win. Anything related to physical and combative forces, she easily surrenders to him. Grant isn’t quick to call defeat, but knows very well his knowledge in science and the human body is reduced to how many bones he’s broken and how many he can break without killing.

The only thing they are equally matched at in very different ways is their way with words. It’s about presentation, delivery, conviction, word choice, tone, timing, clarity, eloquence, declaration. Verbal battles could go years on end between them.

Yet things can also be solved with a simple kiss.

 

 

**_Honor_ **

They offer some kind of official agent salute in farewell. He says no.

They’re willing to pay for a full private service in her memory. He politely declines.

Coulson asks if he knows if she wanted to be buried or cremated. He doesn’t know.

Fitz suggests cremation and scattering her ashes at the Academy because that was the first place she ever called home. He says he’ll think about it.

They tell him that it’s time to say goodbye. He stays silent.

When they finally ask Grant what he does want, he solemnly replies: “Some time alone with my wife.”

 

 

**_Quarrel_ **

Grant remembers watching his parents fight. It’s always a lopsided battle. His father would be drunk and critical of anything and everything. His mother would only dare to fight back for a certain amount of time before giving up and giving in. But that doesn’t mean the quarrel is over. It always escalates because it’s never resolved.

Grant isn’t his father. But sometimes he’s afraid he could be. So he relies on Jemma to make sure he never crosses that line. It’s a heavy burden for her to carry, but she’s willing. After all, he does the same for her.

 

 

**_Friend_ **

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” he tells her.

Jemma knows what he’s asking without him saying the words. But she can’t accept his offer. Knowing what they’ve done, where they’ve been, Jemma can’t agree to his solution. She just wouldn’t be able to take it.

They can’t do anything at this point – can’t change the past, can’t fix the circumstances, can’t override the rules.

He wants to continue to work, to stay with S.H.I.E.L.D, to be friends. Grant doesn’t want to leave. She’s not a good enough reason to.

So Jemma has no other option.

“No, it doesn’t.”

 

 

**_Reflection_ **

There are days that go by where all Jemma thinks about are her flaws. She looks at herself and sees a girl who always fails.

She doesn’t know if or when it will get easier. When she’s trained for the critiques, the praise is surprising and somewhat wrong. Don’t they get it? She’s the one that has all the potential, but can never deliver the goods.

He knows this because that’s what he sees in himself – an utterly miserable shortcoming.

But maybe, for once, Grant can prove them all wrong. Because he has never seen anyone more beautiful than her.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Painstaking_**  

For such a high scale agency like S.H.I.E.L.D, the yearly compulsory systems meeting for all agents is ridiculous. Only those on the most classified missions can skip out and even then, they’re required to reschedule.

Grant understands the point of protocol, but also understands getting the job done so it’s utterly pointless for them to lecture him about safety and the organization’s mission and goals. He’s bored the first ten minutes in.

Lucky for him, Jemma’s sitting right next to him. She pushes a pen and pad of paper over with a grid of dots on it and he smiles. 

 

 

**_Daylight_ **

The orange sky peaks through the window and Jemma squeezes her eyelids shut tighter. She’s not ready for the morning. She wants to go back to yesterday, back to last night, back to her sweet reverie of Grant and white and sex.

She reaches out next to her in bed, but it’s bare and blank matching the day coming in brighter. Of course he’s gone somewhere, not wasting a minute of daylight. For once, she just wishes he would stay.

But then he comes in, presses a kiss to her temple, and says, “Good morning, Mrs. Ward.”

That’s nice too.

 

 

**_Inert_ **

It’s unnerving to see Grant so stationary, so immobilized, so passive, but what makes everything unbearable is the fact that she is the one that put him in this position in the first place. They don’t blame her, but she knows that it’s her fault. Jemma should be the one in that bed, not him.

“Open your eyes. I know you can hear me,” she tries, somewhat still in denial that the Grant Ward could end up here. But nothing. Nothing at all.

“Ward,” she sighs. Still no response.

“Grant,” she whispers to him in the end. “Please come back.”

 

 

**_Now_ **

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Jemma says, still trying to back out with the gun in her hand.

“It’s just a simulation. They only tabulate a score, not an actual body count,” Grant explains again. He has been trying to get her through the basics of self-defense, but guns and shooting accuracy seem to be the tipping point.

“Do you have to watch?” she asks almost childishly. Grant looks at her exasperatedly. 

“Oh, alright! But you’re not going to like this,” Jemma warns him. She plants her feet and steadies her aim. “Now or never, right?”

“Now.”

 

 

**_Brood_ **

Make no mistake: Grant Ward is the brooding type. For a man constantly on alert for danger, there’s a lot of other stuff on his mind. Jemma knows some of it, but not all. It’s not just things on the job; it’s things about his past too.

Sometimes Jemma wants to know, wants to understand, wants to be the one he can confide in. Other times, she thinks it’s best that she doesn’t.

So, she settles for curling up by his side and just being together. After all, there are some things she has to keep from him as well.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Neglect_ **

After a month of radio silence, Jemma is painfully on edge. Every time she asks for an update, they all give her the same answer: she doesn’t have the clearance to know. Apparently, being married isn’t a valid reason.

So when Grant finally shows up at the Hub, Jemma is rightfully upset for being neglected.

“Couldn’t send a postcard or something?” are the first words out of her mouth when she sees him. He smiles, picks her up despite her squeals and protest, and walks past all his superiors with Jemma thrown over his shoulder.

“I’ve got a better idea.”

 

 

**_Leave_ **

“Jemma, wake up,” she hears. Her groggy eyes squint in the dark to make out Grant in her sleeping compartment. The clock reads two in the morning.

“Come on, we gotta go,” he urges in whispers as he swiftly moves and rustles.

“What’s going on?” she asks as she slowly gets out of bed. The duffle bag in his hand has been shoved full of her clothes and other necessities.

“Will you tell me what’s going on?” she asks again louder. Grant’s hand covers her mouth.

“They’re taking over the plane. We have to leave, now, before they find us.”

 

 

 ** _Falter_**  

She doesn’t know how to articulate the way she feels. Perhaps it’s because this is new territory to her. There are no scientific terms, no logical explanation. It’s a feeling, a state of mind, a truth she’s been afraid to admit to.

He doesn’t know how to tell her. Maybe it’s because he’s never been good with the softer side of things. And in this case, where telling is as equally powerful as showing, he falters. It’s an emotion, a realization, a sensation he’s been afraid to feel.

But in the end, they’re thinking the same thing.

“I love you.”

 

 

 ** _Fragment_**  

No one knows the whole truth except themselves. They all see fragments – pieces of the whole puzzle that is the enigma they are.

People see the way they work together – completely professional with Agent Ward this and Simmons that. But no one detects how Jemma sometimes holds her breath or Grant sneaking a glance back before charging in.

On the Bus, they’re cordial – friends who banter and have a competitive knack for Scrabble games. Others don’t notice when one lets the other win or how discreet they’ve become.

God forbid anyone finds out who they really are to each other.

 

 

 ** _Semantics_**  

Grant is reluctant to tell people because of the possible backlash and danger he could be putting her in. The last thing he wants to do is put a target on either of their backs by announcing his relationship with her.

Jemma hesitates for different reasons. She wants to keep things private. It’s no one’s business and she plans to keep it that way. She would rather not answer prying questions about things that don’t really make a difference to either of them.

It’s all semantics in the end. What they have together is much more real than anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished, finally. I want to thank every reader that has supported this in any way. Writing all these drabbles has been more challenging than I originally thought and this is actually the first time I have finished an entire prompt list. So I thank you for all the kudos, comments, and really, every single read which pushed me towards working to this wonderful end.
> 
> For all you WardSimmons fanatics, this will not be the last you'll see of me, but it may take a long while before I put up another work. I am aiming for at least one more piece, but it's a much longer one so it's going to take some time before I upload it here for you all to read. Until then, happy shipping!


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